Wichita State Athletics

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Wichita State drops two matches on its second day of the Mizzou Tournament, falling 3-1 to Arkansas State in the morning match before losing the evening match 3-0 to host Missouri.
 
WICHITA STATE vs. ARKANSAS STATE
Wichita State volleyball battled back to even the match after dropping the opening set but couldn't complete the comeback, falling to Arkansas State, 3-1 (19-25, 26-24, 18-25, 22-25) Saturday morning in Columbia, Mo.
 
Wichita State opened the match trading points with the Red Wolves before Arkansas State used a 6-0 run to take control of the opening set. The Shockers answered in the second set, overcoming a 23-18 deficit with a five-point run to tie the set at 23-23. Wichita State then took the final two points with kills from Jones and Cohee to even the match at one set apiece.
 
The Red Wolves responded by hitting .457 in the third set and built an early advantage that Wichita State was unable to erase. Arkansas State then jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the fourth set before the Shockers rallied. Wichita State cut the deficit to 20-19 and again pulled within one at 23-22, but Arkansas State closed out the match with consecutive kills from Devyn Lewis.
 
McKenzie Jones led the Shockers with 12 kills, hitting .296 on 27 attacks. Maddie Wilson added 11 kills while hitting .375, while Olivia Cohee finished with 10 kills. Jenna Cubbage contributed nine kills and a team-high 17 digs.
 
Jordan Heatherly orchestrated the Wichita State offense with 26 assists and added eight digs while Gabi Maas tallied 16 digs.
 
The Shockers finished the match with 52 kills and hit .233 as a team. Wichita State also recorded eight total blocks, compared to 11 for Arkansas State.
 
Arkansas State was led by Lewis, who recorded 15 kills, while Addison Collum added 14 and Kaitlin Whitlock had 12. The Red Wolves' libero Mia Maloney recorded a match-high 28 digs.
 
WICHITA STATE at MISSOURI
Missouri maintained control throughout the match to sweep the Shockers, 25-19, 25-13, 25-18, Saturday evening in the Hearnes Center.
 
Cubbage and Wilson led the Shocker attack with seven kills apiece, while Heatherly dished 20 assists and Gabi Maas recorded a team-high 11 digs. The Missouri block was unstoppable as the Tigers tallied 10 team blocks. The Shockers finished the match with 33 kills and .167 attack percentage, while Missouri recorded 40 kills with a .368 hitting percentage.
 
The Shockers found themselves down five early but battled back to tie set one at 13-13. The Tigers began to pull away again, but an ace and a pair of kills brought it back within three at 20-17 before Missouri scored the next three-straight and eventually closed out the match on a Paige Felder kill.
 
It was all Missouri in the second set as the Tigers hit .333 to Wichita State's -.030 to claim a 25-13 set win.  Missouri then went on an early run in the third set to build a six-point advantage. The Shockers scored four-straight, including a pair of kills from Wilson, to make it a two-point match at 12-10, but the Tigers pulled away again to ultimately win the third set 25-18 and complete the sweep.
 
Missouri was led by Felder and Grace O'Reilly, who logged 9 kills apiece.
 
Wichita State drops to 3-6 on the season and returns home for a rematch with No. 22 Kansas Tuesday, Sept. 15 in Charles Koch Arena.